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OMIA:003050-93934 : Feather colour, down, dilution in Coturnix japonica (Japanese quail)

Categories: Pigmentation phene

Links to possible relevant human trait(s) and/or gene(s) in OMIM: 609802 (gene) , 113750 (trait) , 605513 (gene)

Single-gene trait/disorder: unknown

Disease-related: no

Key variant is published: no

Markers: Zhang et al. (2025, PMID:39895901) investigated the effect of SLC24A5 variants on down feather pigmentation. A g.8884145A/G missense variant (NC_029525.1:g.8884145A>G; XM_015872956.2:c.1187A>G; XP_015728442.2:p.(D396A)) was associated with significantly lower total melanin content in down feathers and tyrosinase activity in dorsal skin. 
Zhang et al. (2025, PMID:39898814) later reported the effect of a MLANA variant on down feather pigmentation. A missense variant (c.218T/A, p.Leu36Val) was associated with TYR enzyme activity in dorsal skin tissues and melanin content in down feathers.
Possible epistatic effects of the two variants were not reproted and the effect of the MLANA variant on phenotype was unclear.

Clinical features: Zhang et al. (2025): lower total melanin content in down feathers

Associated genes:

Symbol Description Species Chr Location OMIA gene details page Other Links
SLC24A5 solute carrier family 24 member 5 Coturnix japonica 10 NC_029525.1 (8876572..8884679) SLC24A5 Ensembl, NCBI gene
MLANA melan-A Coturnix japonica Z NC_029547.1 (25038643..25043318) MLANA Ensembl, NCBI gene

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Cite this entry

Nicholas, F. W., Tammen, I., & Sydney Informatics Hub. (2026). OMIA:003050-93934: Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals (OMIA) [dataset]. https://omia.org/. https://doi.org/10.25910/2AMR-PV70

References

Note: the references are listed in reverse chronological order (from the most recent year to the earliest year), and alphabetically by first author within a year.

2025 Zhang, X., Wu, F., Qi, Y., Shang, Y., Fan, L., Wang, Y. :
A nonsynonymous single-nucleotide polymorphism in SLC24A5 regulates feather pigment deposition in Chinese yellow quail. J Poult Sci 62:2025006, 2025. Pubmed reference: 39895901. DOI: 10.2141/jpsa.2025006.
Zhang, X., Wu, F., Hu, J., Ji, X., Qi, Y. :
Polymorphism in the MLANA gene and its association with feather pigmentation in Chinese yellow quail (Coturnix japonica). Br Poult Sci 66:453-457, 2025. Pubmed reference: 39898814. DOI: 10.1080/00071668.2025.2451243.

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  • Created by Imke Tammen2 on 08 Apr 2026
  • Changed by Imke Tammen2 on 08 Apr 2026